Homily

ACACIUS BISHOP OF MELITENE

NOTITIA

When the Nestorian heresy arose, Acacius of Melitene took up the cause of Catholic doctrine, and he was a great part of those things which were done in the Ephesian synod; whence John of Antioch with his synod of Orientals deprived him of his priesthood and communion. Alexander of Hierapolis, in a letter which exists in Latin in chapter 87 of the collection from the Tragedy of Irenaeus, said that Acacius had preached that the Godhead was born from Mary and died. Cyril celebrated in his writings the extraordinary zeal of Acacius in exposing and translating the errors of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and he was still living in the year 438: his holy memory the Greeks commemorate in the Menologies on the 17th of April: S. Acacius, Archbishop of Melitene, thaumaturge.

ACACIUS EPISCOPUS MELITENES HOMILY DELIVERED AT EPHESUS.

As I look, beloved, upon this bright and spiritual assembly of the holy synod, both joy and confidence come over me. Joy, indeed: for although I am the least of all, I endeavor to steer this frail skiff of my discourse in this vast sea of wisdom; but confidence, because those great waves of sedition will soon be calmed, and the tranquility of the Lord's peace will return to the universal assembly of the Church. For if the Lord’s twelve disciples, when their ship was being violently shaken by the force of the winds, as soon as they called upon the Lord, immediately escaped the tempest; how much more is it fitting that we should now hope for this same thing without any hesitation, when so many disciples, gathered together in one, will move the Lord with their own voices? When this great and wise pilot is present, who fears no commotion of winds or storms, but with great dexterity brings his fellow-rowers to the rudder, persuading them to take hold of it together and never ceasing to call out with great-consonance to the Master: "Lord, does it not concern you that we are perishing?" He, immediately using his voice, not without a rebuke to the savage waves of the sea, says: "Be silent; be muzzled." It is therefore most appropriate that we should hope better things regarding the present state of affairs, and pay the debts of thanksgiving to God; since the tempest, which had arisen against the truth ^A to scatter the lights of the world, ^B has brought [them] together.

^A Of these, the life of each is the good odor of Christ to God, and their mind is joined to one and the same proclamation of the truth. For we do not teach those who come to usone thing, while believing another concerning the things themselves; but for us there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, God the Word himself: the same before all ages from the Father alone, and the same in the last days in the form of a servant; alone from the Only-One Above, and alone again from the Only-One Below; yet both the same, divinely, but humanly brought forth in our flesh and infancy: the same impassible in divinity, but having suffered for our sake voluntarily in the flesh; ^B not having received the dispensation involuntarily, but having emptied himself voluntarily, having taken the form of a servant. And having taken it, why? That he might make you a partaker in the form of his own glory. And Paul testifies to this, saying: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." He, therefore, who voluntarily took the form of a servant, he who did not refuse the union, how could he refuse the sufferings of the servant? But if he did refuse them, for what purpose did he assume the form of a servant, which is subject to suffering? But he did not refuse, because, having taken the form of a servant, he becomes obedient: he who is the ruler in heaven becomes the subject on earth; he who is the Son above, a child below. And let me remind you of the prophecy. What did blessed Isaiah cry out? "A child is born to us, a son also is given to us." What is this: "and he was given"? Not only was he born, but he was also given; for He who is, was given: "Whose government was upon his shoulder." What is the government of God the Word having become human? The Church; and he himself is the head of the body of the Church; ^C how then does he carry this upon his shoulder? He bears upon his shoulders that which had been crushed and shattered; "Whose government was upon his shoulder, and his name is called the Angel of the great counsel." And he is so called because of the dispensation. And what is the meaning of, "Counselor, mighty God, governor, Father of the age to come"? The ruler above is then the subject below; the Son above, the child below; the wonderful counselor above, the human below; the mighty God above, the human below who is buffeted and reviled, and nailed to the cross, and who received death through it; for all these things, belonging to the form of a servant, the Godhead that had assumed it did not in any way decline, so that through each of the things mentioned he might abolish for us the obstacles to salvation, and might bestow upon us a beneficence worthy of such an emptying. I do not set aside the grace of God; I do not refuse to speak of what he endured for my sake. For being impassible, he did not refuse, but having joined himself to the suffering ^D